Way of the Iaiken (5e Subclass)

Way of the Iaiken

The Iaiken is a style of fighting monks use to attack with precision, power and "stealth at plain sight". The Iaido was created by samurai as a lightning fast style, where they would draw their swords extremely fast and sheath them back after hitting their opponents. One monk wanted to learn such technique, but their monastery forbid their acolytes to wield weapons, so together with the samurai that showed them the Iaido they created a version of the style which used the warriors hands in place of swords and slits on the side of their pants as the sheath. That's how the Iaiken came to be.

After being created this style went trough changes, it's masters working day and night to perfect it and make it something of it's own. After years one master created the form known to this day, the true power of the Iaiken. The master pushed the speed of the technique to the limit, turning their fist invisible, but not only that, he also realized that with that speed the pressure of the punch was even stronger than the punch itself and could reach farther than their arm. After perfecting this new form he passed it on, until this became the the style known now a days as the true Iaiken.

Muonken

Starting when you chose this tradition at level 3 you can focus your ki on your fists while you keep them on the slits of your pants (pockets). While on this pose you can throw a punch that causes enough pressure to hit enemies at a distance. Spend 1 ki point to make every attack on your turn a muonken. This attack has a reach of 15ft. The muonken causes the same damage as your Martial Arts feature and it's a unarmed attack. The muonken can't be used within 5ft of the user, so any other effect of it may have on higher levels won't work within that distance.

Invisible Punch

At level 6 you are so adept at the Iaiken style your punches are already becoming invisible. You can focus your ki to make your muonken even faster making it harder for the enemy to realize you're attacking. You can spend 1 ki point to gain advantage on the attack. At level 10 you're more familiar with this technique, now you spend 1 ki point to gain advantage on your next 2 muonken. At level 14 your fist is basically invisible at all times, you spend 1 ki point to gain advantage on every muonken on that turn.

Super Muonken

At level 11 you can use a stronger type of muonken, the super muonken causes more damage but it can't benefit from the Invisible Punch ability, for it's stronger movements make it more visible. You can spend 2 ki points to turn all your attacks into super muonken strikes. They cause 1 die level higher than your Martial Arts feature's normal die in damage and can hit up to 20ft. Also, your super muonken deals force damage.

Shichijou Taisou: Muonken/Senjou Senzoku: Muonken

At level 17 you have learned these two unique techniques of the Iaiken. One is meant to be used as a concentrated attack on a line, and the other has a wider range, on a cone area. You can spend 4 ki points to use one of these as your action. The shichijou taisou is a muonken strike with a range of 5ft by 40ft on a line, it causes 7d8 force damage. The senjou senzoku has a range of 35ft on a cone, it causes 10d6 force damage. Any creature in the range of these attacks must make a Dexterity saving throw. If they fail they take full damage, are pushed 10ft and are knocked prone. If they succed they take half damage and are only pushed 5ft.

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